BRISTOL, R.I.- Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.) blasted a solo home run to surpass Grant Bolin '10 and sit alone atop the leaderboard for career home runs in program history, while the Roger Williams Baseball team split a doubleheader against Western New England University on Sunday afternoon at Paolino Field.

In game one, the Hawks offense struggled to get going to support Dan Massaro's (Fairfield, Conn.) strong performance on the mound as the team saw their six-game winning streak snapped losing, 3-1.

The offense woke up in game two as Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.) clubbed a leadoff home run on the second pitch he saw and they just kept rolling from there earning a 14-4, mercy rule victory.

With the split, the Hawks are now 15-5 on the season, 9-3 in Commonwealth Coast Conference play. Meanwhile the Golden Bears now stand at 2-4-1, 1-4-1 in CCC play.

Hawk Highlights

Game 1

George Somers (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.): 2-for-3, 2B

Matt Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.): 2-for-3

Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.): 1-for-3, HR, RBI, RS

Dan Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.): (L, 1-1), 6.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K

For the Opponents

Vincent Caccavale (West Hartford, Conn.): 2-for-3, RBI

Kevin Hummer (Shrewsbury, Conn.): (W, 1-1), 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K

How It Happened

Western New England jumped on Roger Williams starter Dan Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) right away in this one. After retiring the first two men he faced, Massaro walked Sean Jamieson (New Fairfield, Conn.) and hit Ben Harrison (Newtown, Conn.) with a pitch. This brought Vincent Caccavale (West Hartford, Conn.) to the plate and he scorched a line drive single into center to score Jamieson. Harrison and Caccavale each advanced to third and second respectively during the play and that would hurt Massaro who uncorked a wild pitch to bring home another run.

Kevin Hummer (Shrewsbury, Conn.) came on to pitch for the Golden Bears and responded with a shutdown inning by striking out the side and the score was 2-0 after one.

Both pitchers settled into a rhythm from there until the fifth. Mack Palmer (Princeton Junction, N.J.) reached on an error to lead off for WNE but he got picked off before Jake Balderston (Hadley, Mass.) drew a free pass. He advanced to second on a ground out then to third on a wild pitch. After a walk put runners on the corners, Cody Waterbury (Danbury, Conn.) hit a mile high pop up into shallow right field that was dropped by Hawks second baseman Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.) and allowed an insurance run to cross the plate.

Roger Williams broke through on Roth's historic home run over the left field wall in the seventh, but it was not enough as they fell, 3-1.

Massaro was strong across six innings, allowing three runs, two of them earned, on three hits, and four walks while striking out four, and took the loss.

Hummer was terrific for WNE going the distance with his lone blemish being the homer by Roth, he allowed five hits, and did not walk a batter while striking out eight to earn the victory.

Coach's Corner

Dan Massaro pitched great for us today, but the free passes really hurt us and to WNE's credit their starter pitched a little better than ours. The bright spot in the loss was Danny Roth who continues to trend in the right direction with the stick. He had another long ball today and this one set the new record for career home runs. 

Game 2

Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.): 5-for-5, 2 2B, HR, 2 SB, BB, 3 RBI, 4 RS

Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.): 3-for-5, 2B, SB, 3 RBI, 2 RS

Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.): 4-for-4, BB, 3 RBI, RS

Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.): 3.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K

Ryan McGahern (Attleboro, Mass.): (W, 1-0), 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

For the Opponents

Jake Gerraughty (Mansfield, Mass.): 1-for-4, 2B, BB, 2 RBI

Sebastian Grignano (Meridan, Conn.): 1-for-4, 2B, RBI

Troy Donohue (Wilbraham, Mass.): 2.0 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

How It Happened

After a clean first inning from Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.), it only took the Hawks a mere two pitches to get on the scoreboard in game two as Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.) took a 1-0 pitch and launched it over the left field fence for the leadoff home run. Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) and Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) followed that up by hitting consecutive singles to put runners on the corners for George Somers (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.). He rolled into a fielder's choice that scored Cedeno from third and gave the Hawks a 2-0 advantage after one.

The offense went right back to work in the second as Tommy Hobin (Madison, Conn.) led off with a double and Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.) singled. An infield hit by Gulino loaded the bases for Cedeno who split the gap in left-center field to score a pair. A wild pitch allowed Gulino to score and Cedeno to advance 90-feet ahead of Jenkins who checked in with a single through the right side to make the score 6-0.

The Golden Bears got on the board in the fourth. They got two runners on with one out for Sebastian Grignano (Meridan, Conn.) who hit a line drive into left center that landed just out of the reach of the diving Gulino and brought home a run. Jake Gerraughty (Mansfield, Mass.) followed that up with a two-run double to right center and prompted a pitching change. Connor Padovich (Bristol, R.I.) came in and limited the damage, but the Hawks lead was cut in half as they led 6-3.

In the home half, the Hawks got a couple back as with two runners on and two men out, Matt Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) cranked a double to left field. This allowed Jenkins to score along with Jack Morin (North Andover, Mass.) who came all the way around from first to make the score 8-3.

WNE got one back in the fifth as their first two men reached on a single and a hit batsman. After a fly out, Jake Balderston (Hadley, Mass.) dropped a single into left field to score a run and cut the lead to 8-4. This prompted another call to the bullpen for Roger Williams as they turned to Ryan McGahern (Attleboro, Mass.). He promptly induced a comebacker and started a 1-6-3 double play to get out of the jam.

In the bottom half the Hawks struck again. Jackson notched a single and Gulino drew a walk for Cedeno who knocked one into right to bring home Jackson. Jenkins followed that up by clobbering a ball that went about as far as it could go without leaving the yard to dead center that was caught. He instead had to settle for the sacrifice fly as Gulino scored and after five innings, the Hawks led 10-4.

RWU tacked on two more in the sixth on a Jackson RBI ground out and a Gulino run-scoring double. Then, in the eighth, the Hawks finished it off with another Gulino RBI two-bagger and a Jenkins single that scored Gulino to make the score 14-4 and prompt the mercy rule.

Bonavita started and struck out five over the first 3.1 innings but he did not qualify for the victory. Instead, it was McGahern who threw 3.1 innings in relief, allowing only one baserunner on a hit and struck out three to get the win.

Donohue started and gave up six runs on nine hits over the first two innings and took the loss.

Coach's Corner

Like we always do we bounced back and didn't let the loss of game one affect us. Ben Bonavita gave us a quality start and the offense was clicking on all cylinders. Complete team effort to earn this win. 

What's Next

The Hawks finish up their season series with the Golden Bears with a nonconference showdown at Paolino Field on Wednesday afternoon. First pitch will be at 3:30 PM.